Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Latest News Blood In Baldur's Gate

All perfectly clear, thanks for your thoughts! My BG history is 100 years out of date, so interesting to hear that the Low Lantern was still afloat in Descent to Avernus, but as you say if it's in poor repair then it's not out of the question that it's been repurposed into a building ornament a bit later. With respect to the water, my theory is that there is water to the left as well, and in fact the wall we can see in front of it is the harbour wall. I'm sure in one vid there was a shot of someone (Astarion?) looking to be standing looking out from the boat pub but I can't find it now. The best I can track down is the below, and if the mast in the foreground is one belonging to that grounded ship (and from the tattered sail it looks like it) we can see the Harbour Master's Office and Water Queen's House nearby in roughly the right places, though the boat may need to have been reoriented. Perhaps just dragged up onto the jetty it was moored to in BG1?

I'll admit it's a stretch, which is why I thought Wolfheart's Blushing Mermaid guess sounded plausible, but I don't feel it's totally impossible it's the Low Lantern yet.

Thank you for the picture.
I must admit that this view is really closer to the BG1 map : BG1 Full map
We had in the same area Umberlee Temple, the Harbour Master and the Low Lantern, and the tattered sail is a strong clue indeed !
So maybe the map is a mix a BG1 mp and the official new map... and city geography might change a lot and is not a solid ground for my first deduction (for example the Blushing Mermaid was in the upper city in BG1 and in the Lower City in thje modern map !)
Actually I feel a little lost, and now I think (and hope) you are right about the Low Lantern ! (concerning the point of view of Astarion and the group from the boat it is just before this image, around 1'47)

Certainly the changes from BG1 explain a lot of my problem getting my bearings with Blood in Baldur's Gate, as BG1 is what I'm familiar with. But the map with the key you shared has helped me no end so thank you!

Perhaps the Low Lantern had been moved down the harbour, but has been moved back to its historic location after decommissioning? It's now clear to me that, as you point out, Larian have a bit of work to do to reconcile the Gate of the first game with the modern 5e city. I think they'd be better off aiming for consistency with the new map, since they have 100 years of history to excuse differences from the previous game, but I'd totally understand if they wanted to pay homage to BG1 by taking some artistic liberties with the new version of the city too.

I guess we'll get more info if the trail of the killer leads us to the Low Lantern at some point . (EDIT: Or possibly not as this is set 15 years before so presumably the Low Lantern is still slowly taking on water back in the same place as it was a few years later for Descent for Avernus. D'uh, I forgot about that!)

Oh, and thank you for the pointer to the other shot I was thinking of. Don't know how I missed that one!

I am glad we finally got to the morgue but I was hoping for more information - what sort of detective doesn't have connections in the morgue that he/she can work with to get info?

Still, the info on the other body seems like a good next lead - the stakes get higher if you have a serial killer and that token of Speak with dead should be useful.

Generic Tav, that's who.

Interesting what happened to the body, especially after we learn that exotic meat is being sold, though after reading the letter it does seem to be something to do with a cult. I'm actually tempted to vote for the shrine of Ilmater, on the off chance the guard mutilated the body before it reached the morgue.

I'm glad we seem to have the weekend to think this one over, as I'm not sure where I want to go next.

I was a bit surprised that we don't seem to have the option of going to Cliffside Cemetry where the Dragonborn washed up on Silver Beach was taken to be buried. Though we may not want to waste our Speak with Dead token on a random murder that may have nothing to do with our investigation, or perhaps we should go to Silver Beach first anyway in the hope it'll help us work out what our five questions should be if we do decide to interrogate the dead Dragonborn.

The fact we've got a bit more info about that one and that it's more recent makes me more tempted by Silver Beach than following up the other murder at Insight Park right now.

I don't see any immediate reason to follow up on the monster meat (hope the mortician isn't supplying corpse chunks for food!) or the overbearing guard at the Shrine of Ilmater. Unless we really are meant to take a Dirk Gently approach and just investigate the most random and apparently unconnected thing!

There don't seem to be any direct leads to Sceleritas Fel (which feels like it should be an anagram!) or his "Master" as far as I can tell. And this game thing is reminding me of something. Not sure if it's Die Hard with a Vengeance, The Great Game episode of Sherlock or something else entirely! Wild theory: Sceleritas Fel was the bloke with the dead animal on his hat. And I'm getting echoes of Renfield and Dracula from how he talks about his Master. Is a vampire involved? Though Fel describes him as a "noxious angel" and "vulgar fiend", but I'm not sure if we should take that literally.

We suspected some connection between Magpie the urchin and the Guild, and the urchin seemed to know at least something about who we were tracking (either Fel or his Master?) given he said he'd not want to be in our shoes, and obviously got the letter from somewhere. But we've already been to the Blushing Mermaid which I think was our only lead on the Guild, so that trail seems cold for now.

Then there's E Shearan and our bard's false beard (was he in hiding? in disguise? an actor? just wanted a beard and couldn't grow one as he's an elf?). I'm not sure we can do anything with those titbits at the moment, though.

In short, I'm leaning towards Silver Beach but I'm going to ponder it and try to work out what I've missed!

Oh, I never even thought of that. Hmm!

I don’t quite see how it matters yet, but I don’t think it was Magpie that gave us the letter. I think it was Sceleritas Fel under some sort of illusion spell. Why? (1) the “Magpie” who gave us the letter sounded confident, whereas the Magpie we collared previously was quavering; (2) there was the smell of magic in the air when we were handed the letter.

Of course, it might just have been an associate of Sceleritas Fel. Someone solve that anagram, please! =]

What’s more, the guy with the animal-skeleton hat pinched our good-luck charm. Could have been a random pickpocketing, or is there some reason Sceleritas Fel might be interested in our lucky almiraj paw?

None of this gives me much of a reason to go any particular place, but I agree that it makes sense to follow up on the other murders to see if there’s a connection, in which case I would vote for Silver Crescent Beach.

I thought that Magpie stole the charm while we were talking to him! But I’ve just reread the text and I probably was just assuming that he was the thief because … he’s a thief. But you’re of course right the skeleton-hatted-man bumped into us and it was probably him instead.

Are there 5e spells that use treasured belongings to find or scry or harm someone? I can’t think of anything in D&D but I know my knowledge of it is paltry compared to some folk here!

I also didn't think it was Magpie yesterday, but the message at our house today said straight out that he gave us the letter so I now think it probably was. Of course, it might have been someone else under an illusion but in that case I’d have thought the text might have fudged it a little. But I’ll keep an open mind. As you say, there was the spell that we couldn’t identify.

I'm rather stumped on this. I expected more from the mortician, or rather, a chance to talk to her.

I don't think the mortician would murder in such a way if she is selling organs. again, there are simpler ways to kill someone. Right now I figure she's selling to the butcher.
Seeing as the body that washed up on the beach is already buried (and probably missing some organs) and the fact we can't even go to the cemetery makes me think that path is closed.
I'm voting for Shrine of the Suffering, seems like a good front for something

Currently, Silver Crescent Beach is leading with 44%. This is surprising because that is the most unremarkable death of the three. A body washed up that doesn't even indicate murder, someone could have lost their footing and drowned. But also because the body isn't even there anymore, and if it isn't even the location of the murder, just where the body was found, it may hold few clues.

Yes, Top Hat man could be Fel, which would mean we've probably met him at least twice now, after he glamoured himself and gave us the letter.

I was expecting more out of the morgue too. I hadn't realized how unofficial our investiagation was and expected to get the run down of the autopsy from the coroner.

Without knowing the state of the previous murders, we don't know if organ removal is a pattern; or if the organs are for the meat market, but the eyes are part of a ritual etc.

The journalist did say it was a murder, so I assumed that was known, even though we’re not sure on what basis. But it is probably safest not to assume anything.

I also think I’m metagaming a bit, given that we’ve been given nowhere else to try in order to find out more about the dragonborn, I feel if there’s a lead from that death anywhere it must be at the beach.

Does anyone know anything about Ilmater or other FR religions that might shed light on that red braid tattooed on that guard’s right wrist? Is that common for worshippers of Ilmater? Or people connected to his church in some way? Some secret offshoot sect of Ilmater that promotes suffering as a path to holiness rather than trying to alleviate it and might be responsible for a series of murders in the city?


I was reminded of the Cult of the Eyeless in BG2, but they were blinded living so I’m not expecting to find a beholder behind this!

With apologies to everyone for this side discussion that only potentially might become relevant to Blood in Baldur's Gate ... having now spent some time getting my bearings with the modern day Baldur's Gate map, it looks as though the only place marked in what might be around the right place to be that boat building is Jopalin's Teahouse. My outside bet now is that the Low Lantern finally became untenable, the owners bought out Jopalin's Teahouse, and merged the two establishments both commercially and physically (and possibly magically). Of course, I'd be more stunned than anyone if that turned out to be true .

Voted for Insight Park, although Silver Crescent Beach would be good as well! I picked Insight Park because we don’t have much info on that murder.

Quite funny for me, because last time I was tempted to write (for the joke) that maybe we might get a Blushing Lantern, or a Low Mermaid
But in terms of geographical coherence, your theory would make sense indeed ! (and would be creative)
And maybe one of the intentions behind this investigation is to help us (re)discover the city and its locations, particularly if Tav is supposed to be a baldurian.

Priests and believers of Ilmater are supposed to be tagged "good". If the guard took the eyes, he might be under cover and infiltrated in the Shrine of Suffering. On a side note, Harborside Hospital is also infamous for some naughty business and traffics.

Is it still possible to join the game? Unfortunately, I didn't have time last week.

Definitely worth a try! I don’t see why it shouldn’t be possible. All the historic info we’ve discovered is recoded in the text for each location we’ve visited so it should be easy enough to catch up by just browsing through them.

(The text in each location is dated - be aware for a couple of them we’ve been back so there are two entries - so it should be possible to follow the trail using that info or the chat here, but shout if once you take a look it would be helpful to drop a summary here of the path we’ve followed thus far.)

Thank you, Red Queen! I'll join the investigation later this evening🔎

The hospital scene: I feel like it's full of red flags, pointing at creepy worldbuilding rather than solving this crime.

My theory is that the eyes and organs are missing not because they are part of the ritual, but because they are being used as parts by a necromancer working out of the conveniently placed cemetery next door.

This would connect nicely with all the necromancy subplots of BG3, such as etc.

The main clue in the hospital is the fake beard on the cadaver. A bard elf in disguise, to me, sounds like a Harper caught during an undercover mission.

The other two deaths might be two other Harpers (one at the CRESCENT beach, with the crescent moon being one of the Harper's symbols), and one at Insight Park.

Maybe the Harpers were investigating this mysterious Fel, from the letter, and Fel decided to put a swift end to their snooping.

As an aside, I'm enjoying Blood in Baldur's Gate A LOT. It reminds me of the way the Investigative Missions of The Secret World were written, spanning entire levels and worlds. So nice.